Towards Principles of Large-Scale Agile Development: A Summary of the workshop at XP2014 and a revised research agenda 1 Torgeir Dingsøyr, 1, 2 Nils Brede Moe, 1, 3 1 SINTEF, NO-7465 Trondheim, Norway torgeird@sintef.no 2 Department of Computer and Information Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology 3 Blekinge Institute of Technology SE-371 79 Karlskrona, Sweden nils.b.moe@sintef.no Abstract. Large projects are increasingly adopting agile development practices, and this raises new challenges for research. The workshop on principles of large-scale agile development focused on central topics in large-scale: the role of architecture, inter-team coordination, portfolio management and scaling agile practices. We propose eight principles for large-scale agile development, and present a revised research agenda. Keywords: Large-scale agile software development, architecture, portfolio management; project management, scaling, inter-team coordination, software engineering 1 Introduction Since the formulation of the agile manifesto in 2001, agile methods have transformed software development practice by strongly emphasizing change tolerance, evolutionary delivery and active end- user involvement [1]. Agile development has received widespread interest, resulting in a shift of patterns of thought. Scrum is now a de facto standard for development in many countries, and other methods like extreme programming (XP) and elements of lean software development such as Kanban are in widespread use. Rajlich describes agile development as a paradigm shift in software engineering that “brings a host of new topics into the forefront of software engineering research” [2]. In the first special issue on agile development, in IEEE Computer, Williams and Cockburn [3] stated that agile methods “best suit collocated teams of about 50 people or fewer who have easy access to user and business experts and are developing projects that are not life-critical”. The success of agile methods for small, co-located teams has inspired use in new domains: Companies increasingly apply agile practices to large-scale projects. However, there are challenges with achieving the same productivity gains in these areas, as in the “home ground” of agile methods. Agile methods are based on the idea that high-quality software can be developed by small teams using the principles of continuous design improvement and testing based on rapid feedback and change [4]. As agile development techniques are used on large-scale projects, new challenges arise. “Agile in the large” was voted “top burning research question” by practitioners at the XP2010 conference [5]. Fundamental assumptions in agile development are severely challenged when using these practices in large-scale projects. Self-management is a central principle in agile methods, but studies from other fields than software development indicate that self-management can reduce the ability to effectively coordinate across teams [6]. Also while the teams need to self-manage, team members need to have an effective knowledge network and collaborate closely with experts outside the team in large-scale agile [7]. To have an emerging architecture could hamper project progress when many teams are working in parallel, and some practices like the scrum of scrum has been found to be inefficient in large projects [8]. An international survey on agile adoption 2 shows that agile practice has primarily been successful in small teams. To address these challenges with agile methods in large projects, we organized a workshop at XP2013 which resulted in a suggested research agenda [9]. At XP2014, we wanted to strengthen this line of 1 Postprint, published as: Dingsøyr, T., & Moe, N. B. (2014). Towards Principles of Large-Scale Agile Development: A Summary of the workshop at XP2014 and a revised research agenda. In Torgeir Dingsøyr, Nils Brede Moe, Steve Counsell, Roberto Tonelli, Cigdem Gencel, & Kai Petersen (Eds.), Agile Methods. Large-Scale Development, Refactoring, Testing, and Estimation (Vol. 199, pp. 1-8). Berlin: Springer. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-14358-3_1 2 Scott Ambler: Agile Adoption Rate Survey 2008, http://www.ambysoft.com/surveys/agileFebruary2008.html